Whip.



PATYENTED NOV. 10, 1903.

M. 0. FELKER.

WHIP.

APPLICATION FILED 12.9.1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

, PATENTED 187017.10, 1903. M. 0. FELKER.

. WHIP.-

NITED STATES Patented November 10, 1903.

PATENT Fries.

WHIP.

QPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,847, dated November 10, 1903. Application filed March 9, 1903- Sarial No- 146,809. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it Tina/y concern:

Be it known that I, MELANo'rHoN O. FEL: KER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicora, in the county of Butler and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Whips, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to horsewhips, and comprises a new article of manufacture of poculiar and novel construction.

Essentially my improved article consists .of a horsewhip constructed, barring the tip portion, of a succession or plurality of distinct separate sections of stock or material-=to wit, malacca or ratan-practically in its natural or unreduced state, the sections being in their natural sizes and taper, but of progressively smaller diameter from the hand end to the other extremity and the adjoining sections being interconnected by means of metallic bands made to strongly or compressively grip the adjoining parts by being swaged or otherwise red uced'in diameter after being placed over the sections. I consider myself the first to invent and make a whip so concomes waste material that goes to the scrappile and the furnace, and, thirdly,-the elimination of something like fifty per cent. of the cost of production and manufacture in. respect to the items of labor and material, which will be hereinafter more fully e2;- plaiued in distinguishingmyimproved whip from and its attendant advantages over the old and existing whips and methods attending their production.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification, and on .which like reference-letters indicate corresponding parts,'Figure 1 represents a piece of ratan or malacca in its natural state as it comes into the market; Fig. 2, awhip-stock built up, according to the old methods, of various strips of reed (which is the pith of ratan) or malacca; Fig. 3, a cheaper form of Whip-stock, being composed in part of a reduced reed and of a piece of'wood in the ordinary sense; Fig. 4., a View of a complete whip of one type made according to my invention; Fig. 5, a View of another, butdifferent type, of Whip, also made according to my invention; Fig. 6, a detail longitudinal sectional view of the abutting ends of two whip-sections united according to my invention, and Fig. 7 a detail sectional view of the coupling before application.

In order to more properly distinguish my new whip from the prior art and to make plain the advantages attending it, I will first refer to this prior art far enough to indicate What it contains and the disadvantages attending the manufacture of whips in accordance with such art.

Viewing Figs. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the stock represented in Fig. 1 has been cut into long tapering small strips a, which are united by glue and the wrapping 1), these strips being tapered, so as to give the tapering form to the resulting whip, or has been reduced into a single tapering body 0, as shown in Fig. 3. In either case much waste of material has taken place. show that about two-thirds of the original quantity of the ratan or reed are cut off and 10st in shavings, besides the excessive loss in short lengths sawed from the original stock, as shown in Fig. 1. Reliable data also show that ratan and reed cost-fully one-half of the sum of the bills for all of the materials used in the construction of Whips according to the present and old methods. Thus this stock or foundation material, the cost of which constitutes fully fifty per cent. of the total cost of the materials consumed, is largely wasted by the construction of existing whips and the method of making them. In Fig. 3 thereed cforms only about two-thirds of the length of the whip, the remainder being constructed Reliable data of ordinary wood, as shown at d. This construction is employed in the cheaper grade of whips and involves a lap-joint e between the reed-body and the butt or portion d, which is always a weak place in this class of whips and is where they usually break before they are worn out. Now in my improved whip all this loss in shavings in splitting up and cutting down the strips of ratan and reed is wholly avoided, and from odd lengths the loss is practically avoided, since in my construction the ratan is sawed off in lengths corresponding,essentially,with thenatural lengths of the reed between joints. Original reed stock is thus treated, while the waste lengths that result from the old methods of construction and manufacture are equally'available for purposes of building my improved whip. The next great item of material cost in the construction of whips according to old and known methods is that relating to the thread used in making the plaited covering. In my improved Whip the average amount of thread required is about one-half that required in the old and existing style of whips in the same number of whips made according to the two methods. For instance, in the old -style thread covered whip the thread plaiting covers the whip from end to end. In my whip the thread plaiting will not average more than half the length of the whip. It will vary in difierent styles, as suggested by comparing Figs. 4 and 5; but the average plaiting will amount to about one-half of the total length of the whip. Here again a large saving is efiected in the construction and finish in my improved whip as compared with the old style of Whip. Coming now to the third, but large, item in the cost of whip productionnamely, that of laborI would still further observe that under my invention this item is reduced by about fifty per cent. To illustrate, under the old methods of construction and manufacture there is the labor of split ting and turning down the stock and of plaiting the thread on the lower or hand portion of the whip, in rolling, in sizing, and in filling the lower portion. All of these items of labor are saved or avoided altogether in making my whip by reason of its construction. Moreover, a whip-factory operating according to the present methods of production and making whips of the present construction can make but about one-half as many whips per day as the same operating expense will make if the whips are constructed according to my improved article.

Having previously referred to what may be regarded as the unwritten art or the art as practiced, I will now refer to the prior art, as the same is illustrated in a sufficient number of prior patents to show its state. Accordingly I am aware it has been proposed to employ a single stick of ratan for a whipstock, the same being not built up of sections and being thread-covered, thus adding to the cost of the whip. Again, I have myself in a previous patent proposed to connect whip-sections in making new whips or join together broken parts of old whips by means of a coupling; but that alone does not extend to the present invention, as is obvious, the separate sections in their natural state being unknown in that construction. There are also one or more other prior examples of the more use of couplings to join together sections of a whip-that is, of course, the old-style whip, with its'built-up stock or body and its thread coveringit being proposed in one such instance to construct a coupling so that one section would practically screwinto it. It has also been proposed in a combination cane and whip to combine a cylindrical casing with a whip-section of the thread-covered variety by screwing the whip-section into the casing, the whip-section in such case also having fixed sleeves hinged together and adapted to be held in line by an outer sleeve'to slide over and lap across the joint in the pivoted sections. It has also been proposed to make a whip-stock with a hollow body formed of several strands of braided elastic wire, the whole to be thread'covered or otherwise trim med and covered. I am further aware that it has been proposed to make fishing-rods of sections of wood, with a tube permanently secured to one section and removably or loosely to the adjoining section, there being in some cases a metallic ferrule on the removable section adapted to be removed from or fitted into the tube on the other section, so as to bring metal to metal instead of wood to metal; but in this lattercase and in all cases of fishing-poles the connection is not a permanent one, but designedly and necessarily a detachable one; nor is the swaging of the coupling possible upon both sections for this reason.

Referring now to the remaining features of construction of my whip,it will be seen that I employ means to interconnect or unite together in a strong and durable manner the sections of ratan or malacca that constitute my whip-body, as also to unite to the whipbody the end or tip section. This means consists of a coupling f, made of metal or al- 10y, preferably of brass, though steel may be used. This coupling, it will be seen from Fig. 6, is slightly larger in diameter near the center than toward the ends. In its original form the couplingfis cylindrical, as seen in Fig. 7. In this form one of the whip-sections is inserted into the coupling, when the coupling is mechanically manipulated by pressure or blows, preferably by a swaging method,

to reduce the diameter at the end in which the section has been inserted for the purpose of making the coupling partially embed itself into the section. The efiect of this swaging or reducing of the ferrule is to make it more nearly flush with the section of the whip and at the same time to make it so firmly clamp ITO the section as to preclude any movement endwise, as well as otherwise, between the parts. The next section is then inserted into the coupling and the coupling is likewise treated. The presence of the natural covering enters also mechanically into the combination of the sections with the couplings described, for the reason that the said covering prevents the couplings from unduly embedding themselves into the sections when undergoing the swaging operation, and also prevents the sections from becoming weak or from breaking at and around the ends of the couplings. In other words, this new combination of couplings and natural covering gives a new and improved result. Thus the whip-body is built up of these sections of ratan or malacca in their natural state, the sections being selected with respect to their size, so as to get notonly the taper of the sections, but the general taper necessary in the Whip. The couplings also afford ornament as a mere incident. To the last or outer section is likewise secured the tip or lash section of the whip. In the outer coupling in the type of whip shown in Fig 5 it will be seen that the portion h of the coupling is reduced more than the portion '5. This is because the outer or tip section is that much smaller than the next or inner section atthe meetingends-a relative size often employed for appearance. These joints are stronger than the old joint shown in Fig. 3,

where the reed c and the ordinary wood section dare united bya lap-joint. Myimproved joints also permit the natural bending or springing of the whip, as is shown in numerous specimens that have been manufactured. The feel, the-spring, and the general tone and response of the whip when manipulated in the hand are also obtained by the construction described. The couplings. do not interfere with these actions, while the preservation of the natural coating or covering of the ratan or malacca aids materially in these re sults, because of the fact that under this construction there is preserved and utilized the most resilient and the toughest and strongest portion of the material-namely, such outer coating. 'The pith or reed, which is the part left after the coating is cut away, is often rotten, or partially so, and weak, though this is not always discoverable or apparent.

It is obvious that suitable colors could be applied to the surfaces of the sections to give them a fancy appearance.

Having thus fully described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As a new article of manufacture, the herein-described whip, consisting of separate sections of malacca or ratan, each section being in the natural state as toits exterior and each section from the hand. end outward of natural smallerdiameter, and the adjoining sections interconnected by a coupling in compressed contaot with the sections.

2. As a new article of manufacture, the herein-described whip, consisting of separate sections of malacca or ratan, each section having its natural coating intact and its natural taper maintained, and each section from the hand end outward being of smaller diameter, and a coupling for interconnecting the adjoining sections, the coupling being in compressed contact with said covering of the ends of the sections.

3. As a new article of manufacture, the herein-described whip, consisting of separate sections of ratan or malacca with the natural state of surface and taper intact, each section from the hand end outward being smaller in diameter than the preceding section, and a thread-covered'outer or lash section,and couplings composed of tubes for connecting the sections together and the tip or lash section with the body-section, said couplings being in compressed contact with the adjoining sections.

4:. In a whip, the combination, with two separate sections, each tapering and one smaller than the other and having the natural covering intact, of a coupling havingv its end portions compressed against said sections to confine the same therein, the coupling being more severely compressed near its ends than about the middle, to more securely hold the sections from endwise separation.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses. 1

Witnesses:

A. Fnnnonn, H. J. MYERS. 

